Books about Psychoactive from Amazon.com

The most comprehensive guide to the botany, history, distribution, and cultivation of all known psychoactive plants

• Examines 414 psychoactive plants and related substances

• Explores how using psychoactive plants in a culturally sanctioned context can produce important insights into the nature of reality

• Contains 797 color photographs and 645 black-and-white illustrations

In the traditions of every culture, plants have been highly valued for their nourishing, healing, and transformative properties. The most powerful plants--those known to transport the human mind into other dimensions of consciousness--have traditionally been regarded as sacred. In The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants Christian Rätsch details the botany, history, distribution, cultivation, and preparation and dosage of more than 400 psychoactive plants. He discusses their ritual and medicinal usage, cultural artifacts made from these plants, and works of art that either represent or have been inspired by them. The author begins with 168 of the most well-known psychoactives--such as cannabis, datura, and papaver--then presents 133 lesser known substances as well as additional plants known as “legal highs,” plants known only from mythological contexts and literature, and plant products that include substances such as ayahuasca, incense, and soma. The text is lavishly illustrated with 797 color photographs--many of which are from the author’s extensive fieldwork around the world--showing the people, ceremonies, and art related to the ritual use of the world’s sacred psychoactives..
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Price: $9.94 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Said to help occasion direct spiritual experience, entheogens include such psychoactives as ayahausca, the peyote used by the Native American Church, and psilocybin mushrooms. What place might psychoactive sacramentals have in contemporary spiritual practices? Can the careful use of entheogens aid in spiritual development? What cautions ought to be considered? 25 new essays from leaders in religion, mental health, and allied fields address these questions. .
Price: $11.63 [Notify me when price goes down.]

What's in that "smart drink," exactly? The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances gives up the goods on well over 100 drugs, plants, and animals capable of altering mood and thought From ergot to Ecstasy, author Richard Rudgley provides in-depth ethnographic and historical information on past and current use, as well as the changing social attitudes toward this motley assortment of fun-loving chemicals. While short on pharmacological and scientific information--this is no PDR--The Encyclopedia is wildly entertaining and informative about the actual use and meaning of psychoactives.

Did you know there are species of hallucinogenic fish? That ants have been used in vision quests? That barbiturates were named for St. Barbara? The book pulls together little-known facts from a variety of literature and produces cohesive, well-documented entries equally well suited to the student and the browser. Rudgley focuses more on naturally occurring substances than lab creations, but the big synthetics like LSD, PCP, and cocaine all get fair coverage as well. The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances is a welcome and much-needed resource for the intrepid psychonaut. --Rob Lightner.
Price: $14.23 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Classic on peyote an psychoactive cacti growing Describes obtaining seeds, growing, cloning and grafting, and extracting maximum output of mescaline and other alkaloids. Includes Peyote, San Pedro, Donana and other cacti. Discusses legal aspects with appendix from attorney Richard Glen Boire. List of Suppliers. .
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